Bedspring



Patented May 22, i923.

CHARLES H. GAIL, OF CINCINNATL'OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE SHOTTMANUFACTURING- COIVIPANY, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, A CORPOR-ATIODI OF OHIO.

nnnsrarne.

Application filed June 19,'1S20. Serial No. 390,074,

T 0 all Awhom t may concern Be it known that l, CHARLES H. GAiL, acitizen of the United States, residing at Cincinnati, in the county ofHamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Bed-Springs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention pertains to bed-springs and concerns particularly the endcross-bar construction of the supporting-frame, especially, though notrestrictedly, the foot portion of the frame, its leading aim and primepurpose being to provide a bed-spring which will not sag in the middleor even have the appearance or possible deceptive feeling of sagging. Tothis end, the spring is made slightly arched crosswise, being atriflehigher .in the middle or center' than at the two sides, and this isaccomplished by correspondingly arching or bowing` the transverseend-bars of the frame which support the spring structure, the latter inthe preferred embodiment of the invention comprising an underlyingmetallic fabric or interwoven wire structure connected at its oppositeends by helical springs to the frame and supporting a plurality ofupright spiral springs. Also, inasmuch as a greater weight is likely tobe imposed on the central part of the bedspring, either one or both ofsuch end bars is also bowed or curved outwardly, whereby to put aslightly greater tension or stress on the helical springs which supportthe middle portion of the spring than on those connected to the sidesections. Thus. either one or 'both of these bars has a doublecurvature, each arching or bowing assisting and doing its part inproducing ythe desired results.

Another object of Ythe invention is to sol construct the bed-spring thatit will properly and adequately support a mattress shaped to conform toa bow-foot bed, and, accordingly, an extension is provided on thebed-spring which carries that part of the mattress pro jecting beyondthe foot end cross-bar of the spring. Such extensionl may convenientlycomprise a supplementarj.'Y or auxiliary crosse bar shorter than andmounted on the main, curved, arched end-bar of the frame by means ofsuitable straps or brackets, and such extension-bar has av row ofupright spiral springs carried thereby which underlie and support thevcorresponding extension forming an integral part of the mattress.

To enable those skilled in this art to have a full and completeunderstanding of the invention bot-h from structural and functionalstandpoints, l have illustrated a pre ferred embodiment of the saine inthe accompanying drawing which should be considered in connection withthe following detailed description. In both views of the drawing likereference characters refer to the same parts.

In this drawing:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary plan view of the foot end portion of theimproved bed- Spring, the upright, spiral mattress-supporting springsand their border-wire being illustrated in a portion only ofthe figureand omitted from the remainder thereof to y more clearly showl theunderlying structure;

seen that the spring-structure comprises ay main-frame composed oftubular longitudinal side-rails 10 and 11 provided at their ends withsocket-brackets 12, 12, and on these, as by riveting, an upwaelly-archedoutwardly-bowed crosssbar 13, desirably angle-shaped in cross-section,is mounted with 'a substantially-horizontal lanpxI at the top and avertical flange fastened to the brackets.`

The upward curvature or arching of the bar is clearly shown in Figure 2,and the outward bowing is fully depicted inFigure 1. Both of thesecurvatures may be comparatively slight but yet suflicient to produce theresults hereinafter indicated.

Such pair of head and foot cross-bars, by means of a number of helicalsprings 14, 15, and 16 arranged singly and in pairs as shown inFigure 1. and wire and clip counections 17, 18, and 19 supportlongitudinal wire-strands 20. 2O associated with the crossconnectingwires 21, thus providing a yieldingly-supported wire network or `fabriccarried by the main-frame and on which the greater portion of theupright mattress-Supporting spiral springs are mounted. As is moreclearly shown in Figure 1, the helical top coils oi such springs areygcther by short helical springs 2a fastened springs are either directly,connected to the angle cross-bar 13 by means of their hookends, or bymeans ot the wire-sections 19k thereto in such a manner as to preventIsliding thereon, hence eliminating any possibility ot objectionablesquealring or other noise` It will be seen, therefore, that owing to theupward curvature of the end-bars,v the whole mattress isl given asliglitly'arched effect transversely, and because ot the outward bowingot the end-barathe helical .springs at the centeroit the constructionare under greater strain than those at the sides,

this'tension gradually decreasing 'from the center to the sides.rlheretore, greater Asupporting effecty is given to the middle orceny`tralr portion of the struct-ure, and even thoughv greater weight beimposed upon such part` of the spring, it will wholly or in largemeasure overcome or neutralize any tendency to sagging or depression.

By means of a suitable number oft strapbars or brackets 25, 25 asupplementaryor auxiliary upwardly-arched extension crossbar v26 isniountedon the main 'foot crossbar 13 tort-he purpose of supporting theextension row of spiral-s arings 27 which are directly mounted thereon,apertures 2S being providedi'n the bar for this purpose. Such row ofsprings is` of less length crosswise the structure than thecorresponding rows of vthe main body oit the spring,as is clearly shownin Figure 1, 'and these springs are connected to one another and to theother springs of the structure by the flexible or spring connectors 24,and all ot the springs y,ofthe Whole structure are provided with asuitably-formed border or marginal wire r29 to Vwhich all of the outersprings are connectedin any approvedv manner. ,ltviwill thus beperceived that the foot portion of the spring has an extension orauxiliary part ot somewhat narrower width adaptedto underlie and supportthat portion of vlthe mattress extended beyond the main cross-bar of thespring and adapted to occupy the bowed portion of the foot ot' the`bed,which7 of course, is not shown in these drawings.

An understanding of this construction, the method of associating theelements together, the principles of operation, and the modesof functionwill malte clear to those skilled. in this ai't the accomplishmentofthe,

several purposes and objects of this invention, but it is to beunderstood that the lat` ter is not limited and restricted to theprecise and exact details ot structure illustrated,

and .described because these may be modied within comparatively widelimits without departure from the substance and essence ot the inventionand without the sacrivficeot any of its substantial benefitsandadvantages. Accordingly itis to be understood that the particularembodiment ot the invention `presented is merely by way ot example, theinvention being susceptible of yarious other incorporations in physicalforni all falling within the breadth and scopeot the inveiitionasdefined by 'the appended claiin.

I claim: ,l l p ln a bed-spring structure et thel character described,Vthe combination of a. mainframe having an upwardly-arched Kout-v wardlybowed toot-end cross-bar, a, main-v spring structure including aplurality of uprighiJ spiral-springs and underlyinglongitudinal.supporting-elements for said, spiralsprings,helical-springs connectingI said longitudinalsupporting-elements to saidcross-bar, an auxiliary extension upwardlyarched outwardly-bowedcross-.bar shorter than and mounted ou said toot-end cr bar, and a crossrou ot upright spiralsprings ytof-:ming an extension .portionotthebed-spring mounted on said auxiliarycrossbar, suchV row of springs beingot less length.

`than the cross rows ot springso't the mainbody ot 'the bed-spring,substai'itially as dcscribed. i

'v CHARLES H. GAIL.

